Chicken Questions

Everyone that cares for chickens will have some kind of chicken questions in their first few moments. You might have rescued a young or old chicken or you might have come home from the feed store, where you just planned to buy dog food, with two sacks of feed, a brooder, and a few fluffy little chicks.

Maybe you’ve successfully kept chickens for years and suddenly one of your beautiful chickens is acting strangely, or has suddenly died for no apparent reason. With a lot of experience, or none at all, for some reason chickens seem to tug at our heartstrings with their elegance, sometimes funny or cute looks, or with their needs and problems.

On our web site we have made it our business to help the chickens of the world and the people that care about them by answering as many chicken questions as we can….more than 2000! We’ve carefully pooled all our resources and experience to share what we know, in hopes that you and your chickens can benefit from many years of experience and our love for chickens.

We have a library of organized topics where you can read through similar questions and answers and possibly find what you need,

Sometimes by the time you realize that a chicken is unwell, it’s an emergency. If you have a life threatening emergency, just as with human care, you may need the hands-on help of a qualified Vet that can examine the chicken and do some testing to discover the cause. A veterinarian that knows chickens will have knowledge to help quickly and provide the medications necessary.

Your chicken questions, should provide as much detail as possible:

1. Age and breed of chicken and how long you have had it.

2. How long it has had the problem, or when you first noticed.

3. If the chicken is alert, active, eating and drinking.

4. If it can stand and walk and see.

5. If there are any noticeable injuries, wounds, bumps, or other.

6. If the chicken has been medicated or had any unusual changes in activity or food.

7. If this is a hen, has it been laying eggs and passing droppings.

8. If the chicken has had other or similar problems before.

9. Any info that will help us get the clearest picture of what is going on so we can give you the most relevant answer.

10. If you have brought any new chickens into the flock recently.

Things to do while waiting for your chicken questions to be answered about an illness:

1. Remove a sick chicken from the community chicken area.

2. Keep it safe and comfortable, not too warm or too cold.

3. If alert offer a drop of water, if it will swallow, offer a few more.

4. Check the body for bleeding or any signs of injury, if relevant.

5. Check toes for gripping reflex if you suspect broken bones.

6. Check any other chickens or poultry for similar problems and general health.

7. If there is an injury look for a possible cause.

8. Check the crop sack at the front right base of the neck for lumps, emptiness or a solid mass.

9. Assess the area for water and feed supply and anything possibly toxic.

10. Watch for droppings from the chicken and note if normal, diarrhea, or other issue.

If you have questions that you would like to ask a vet, use the service below. Ask a Vet has qualified doctors that can answer questions about chicken health.